1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to electrical enclosures and, more particularly, to electrical enclosure assemblies including plural electrical enclosures, such as, for example, electrical distribution centers or meter centers.
2. Background Information
Electrical equipment such as, for example, switchgear devices, relays, electric meters and transformers, are typically housed within an electrical enclosure such as, for example, a housing, such as a box or cabinet.
Buildings, such as, for example, commercial buildings and residences, typically have an electrical distribution center with one or more enclosures, such as, for example, boxes or cabinets, which house electrical equipment (e.g., without limitation, switchgear devices; relays; electric meters; transformers).
For example, meter centers are used for metering electric power delivered to multiple locations from a common system. Typically, the meter center includes an upright cabinet forming an enclosure divided into side-by-side meter and disconnect switch compartments. The meter center includes a plurality of meter compartments, with each meter compartment containing one meter corresponding to one location to which power is delivered. A supply bus, typically a three-phase bus having three line conductors plus a neutral conductor, extends from a feeder bus to the meter compartment. The feeder bus is electrically connected to the utility lines and extends horizontally through the rear of the cabinet. For example, tenant buses electrically connect the meter compartment to the location wherein the electrical power is utilized. The meter compartment has a pair of vertical supply buses, or “line” buses, electrically connected to a selected pair of feeder bus phases by phase balancers. The line buses can include a neutral bus if the meters have a neutral connection. A meter socket is structured to mount a meter in the meter compartment for each tenant load circuit and electrically connects the meter to the supply buses and the tenant load buses.
Two electrical meter centers 10,11 are shown in FIG. 1. Each of the meter centers 10,11 includes a housing 12 having a plurality of meter socket assemblies 14 and a number of meters 16. Examples of meter centers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,951,324; 5,980,311; 5,982,611; 6,012,937; 6,411,486; and 6,565,394, which are incorporated by reference herein.
As shown in FIG. 2, the known technology for bond ganging the two meter centers 10,11 (e.g., without limitation, multiple meter units) includes four screws 18 and four nuts 20. A gasket 22 is disposed between the meter centers 10,11. Four openings 24 for the four screws 18 are located adjacent to the four corners of a rectangular cutout 26 in the sides 28 of the housings 12 of the meter centers 10,11. The cutouts 26 permit horizontal bus bars (not shown) to pass through and interconnect to bus bars (not shown) from the adjacent housing 12. A male portion (not shown) of the bus bars protrudes from left (with respect to FIG. 2) housing 12 to engage a female portion (not shown) of the bus bars in the right (with respect to FIG. 2) housing 12.
The screws 18 and nuts 20 are relatively very difficult to install, since access is needed to both one of the screws 18 and the corresponding nut 20 in the two separate meter centers 10,11. For example, access must be gained to both adjacent housings 12, with the most difficult access being in the metering compartment of the right (with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2) housing 12, since the meter socket assemblies 14 (FIG. 1) block free access to the screws 18. Because of this access problem, additional problems can result if a number of pairs of the screws 18 and nuts 20 are over tightened and/or a number of pairs of the screws 18 and nuts 20 are under tightened. For example, the sides 28 of the housings 12 may bow out and/or the gasket 22 may be crushed.
There is, therefore, room for improvement in electrical enclosures.
There is also room for improvement in electrical enclosure assemblies including plural electrical enclosures.